The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family by Claire Ridgway Page B
Authors: Claire Ridgway
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concentrate on the grisly goings-on. Of course, this is what tourists want to hear about - executions, daring escapes, murders, the Princes, ghosts, the menagerie and the Polar bear who once swam in the moat. These are all interesting stories, but there is so much more to the Tower. There are plenty of books available on the history of the Tower, but in this chapter I'm going to focus on Anne Boleyn's links with the Tower.
The Tower and Anne's Coronation
It was traditional for monarchs to go to the Tower before their coronations and to process from there to Westminster; hence why Edward V, one of the Princes in the Tower, was housed there after his father's death. Henry VIII wanted his queen consort, Anne Boleyn, to follow this royal tradition, to thus show the people that Anne was his rightful wife and Queen. He spent a fortune refurbishing the royal palace and commissioning lavish timber-framed lodgings for Anne's comfort. Improvements included "a rebuilt great chamber and a rebuilt dining room, while a new bridge across the moat gave access from her private garden into the city." 1 The great gallery had also been restored. It is estimated that Cromwell spent the equivalent of nearly £1.3 million in today's money on the repairs and improvements. 2 It is sad that these apartments became uninhabitable by the end of the 16th century and were demolished in the 18th century when so much was spent on them and when they had such history.
The royal palace consisted of :-
• The Great Hall, the centre-piece of the palace and a huge hall built by Henry III in the 13th century
• Kitchens
• The Queen's lodgings, which overlooked the palace gardens
• The jewel house
• The Queen's gallery, used for promenades and viewing the gardens
• The palace gardens with their courtyards, railings and posts topped with heraldic beasts
It was a sumptuous royal palace.
Figure 24 - Plan of the Tower in 1597
In Figure 24 , the Great Hall is in the royal palace complex ("n"); the Queen's lodgings are the buildings on the right of it ("g"), running between the White Tower's Wardrobe Tower ("o")and the Lanthorn Tower ("p"). The kitchens were situated beside the Wakefield Tower ("q").
On 29th May 1533, Anne Boleyn's coronation celebrations began with a river pageant from Billingsgate to the Tower of London. The procession paused at Greenwich Palace for Anne to board her barge and then made its way to the Tower, where Anne disembarked at the Court Gate of the Byward Tower. The royal couple spent the next forty-eight hours in the royal palace of the Tower before Anne's procession to Westminster in readiness for her coronation ceremony. The traditional Order of the Bath ceremony took place from the night of 30th May to the morning of the 31st, with eighteen Knights of the Bath being created.
At about 5pm on Saturday 31st May, Anne left the Tower of London to process to Westminster. The lavish rebuilding and refurbishments that Henry VIII had ordered were rather decadent for a mere forty-hour stay; ironically, however, Anne would make uses of the Queen's lodgings once again following her arrest in May 1536.
The Queen's House
Various websites state that Anne Boleyn was imprisoned in a small room within the Queen's House, the Anne Boleyn room. The Queen's House is a part-timbered building which overlooks Tower Green. Victorian visitors interested in the tragic queen were once shown around this bedroom, complete with "Anne" carved into the stonework; but we now know that this building was not built until around 1540. Anne could not have been imprisoned in a building that did not exist in her lifetime.
The Tower and Anne Boleyn's Fall
On 30th April 1536, court musician Mark Smeaton was apprehended and taken to Thomas Cromwell's house in Stepney. There he was interrogated until he confessed to sleeping with the Queen three times. At dawn on 2nd May, Sir Henry Norris, Henry VIII's groom of the stool, was escorted to the Tower of London
The Tower and Anne's Coronation
It was traditional for monarchs to go to the Tower before their coronations and to process from there to Westminster; hence why Edward V, one of the Princes in the Tower, was housed there after his father's death. Henry VIII wanted his queen consort, Anne Boleyn, to follow this royal tradition, to thus show the people that Anne was his rightful wife and Queen. He spent a fortune refurbishing the royal palace and commissioning lavish timber-framed lodgings for Anne's comfort. Improvements included "a rebuilt great chamber and a rebuilt dining room, while a new bridge across the moat gave access from her private garden into the city." 1 The great gallery had also been restored. It is estimated that Cromwell spent the equivalent of nearly £1.3 million in today's money on the repairs and improvements. 2 It is sad that these apartments became uninhabitable by the end of the 16th century and were demolished in the 18th century when so much was spent on them and when they had such history.
The royal palace consisted of :-
• The Great Hall, the centre-piece of the palace and a huge hall built by Henry III in the 13th century
• Kitchens
• The Queen's lodgings, which overlooked the palace gardens
• The jewel house
• The Queen's gallery, used for promenades and viewing the gardens
• The palace gardens with their courtyards, railings and posts topped with heraldic beasts
It was a sumptuous royal palace.
Figure 24 - Plan of the Tower in 1597
In Figure 24 , the Great Hall is in the royal palace complex ("n"); the Queen's lodgings are the buildings on the right of it ("g"), running between the White Tower's Wardrobe Tower ("o")and the Lanthorn Tower ("p"). The kitchens were situated beside the Wakefield Tower ("q").
On 29th May 1533, Anne Boleyn's coronation celebrations began with a river pageant from Billingsgate to the Tower of London. The procession paused at Greenwich Palace for Anne to board her barge and then made its way to the Tower, where Anne disembarked at the Court Gate of the Byward Tower. The royal couple spent the next forty-eight hours in the royal palace of the Tower before Anne's procession to Westminster in readiness for her coronation ceremony. The traditional Order of the Bath ceremony took place from the night of 30th May to the morning of the 31st, with eighteen Knights of the Bath being created.
At about 5pm on Saturday 31st May, Anne left the Tower of London to process to Westminster. The lavish rebuilding and refurbishments that Henry VIII had ordered were rather decadent for a mere forty-hour stay; ironically, however, Anne would make uses of the Queen's lodgings once again following her arrest in May 1536.
The Queen's House
Various websites state that Anne Boleyn was imprisoned in a small room within the Queen's House, the Anne Boleyn room. The Queen's House is a part-timbered building which overlooks Tower Green. Victorian visitors interested in the tragic queen were once shown around this bedroom, complete with "Anne" carved into the stonework; but we now know that this building was not built until around 1540. Anne could not have been imprisoned in a building that did not exist in her lifetime.
The Tower and Anne Boleyn's Fall
On 30th April 1536, court musician Mark Smeaton was apprehended and taken to Thomas Cromwell's house in Stepney. There he was interrogated until he confessed to sleeping with the Queen three times. At dawn on 2nd May, Sir Henry Norris, Henry VIII's groom of the stool, was escorted to the Tower of London
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